Enter War Machine
by Azecreth
Summary: An old friend shows up during the Chitauri invasion of New York, and the fight becomes more intense. Rated T for violence and a bit of language.


A/N: So, I rewatched the Avengers movie, and I had the idea to write this. Essentially, I'm going to do what everyone wanted – have War Machine show up and kick Chitauri butt during the invasion of Manhattan. I might eventually do an aftermath thing, but don't count on it.

To get in the best mood for this, I suggest either "Through the Fire and Flames," by Dragonforce Five, or "War Machine," by ACDC. But what do I know of musical suggestion?

* * *

I own nothing. Rated T for violence.

_Keep breathing_, thought Tony Stark as he dodged another blast from one of those flying Chitauri chariot things. That was the key. As long as he didn't pass out, he could take down as many of these things as needed. Of course, his missile stock was running out fast, and the Chitauri just kept coming. But besides that they were doing very well. Hulk was doing his thing, Thor was all over the place with that hammer of his, Cap was in the thick of it on the ground helping to evacuate civilians, Agent Barton was sitting on the roof, and Agent Romanov was holding it on the ground, and he was rocking it in the sky.

Over the radio, Barton called out, "Tony, five coming from the left."

"Roger that," replied Tony as he swung around to get a clear shot at the lead with his repulsors. He quickly dodged a fusillade of energy blasts, then lashed out with his repulsors, blasting the lead chariot out of the sky. The others swerved to dodge it as Tony banked down the street they had just come down, forcing them to bank hard to follow him. One clipped itself on a building, crashing it.

"Whoa," grunted Tony, moving out of the way of another scatter shot of plasma type blasts. Hitting the brakes, he shot back behind the chariots then took two more out with repulsor blasts. Before he could finish off the last one, it exploded as Barton shot it with one of his arrows.

"I had that one," complained Tony.

"Not now," snapped Captain America, who was busy fighting some Chitauri soldiers on the ground.

"Right Cap," sighed Tony as he flew after one of the larger transport things that had just flown by. He pelted it with miniature missiles, taking out chunks of it. The creature roared, trying to swing around to be able to face him, but the confines of the city made it unable to. And lacking any weapons on back, Tony could hit it with relative impunity. When he had cleaned off all the Chitauri soldiers on it, he moved on to find other things to blow up. Their hull was too tough to penetrate with his repulsors, so he had to content himself with rendering them useless as transports.

As he flew through the city, ignoring the devastation to focus on fighting, another squad of chariots flew into his tail. "You guys just don't learn,' commented Tony, before flipping around and quickly blowing up the first two with repulsors and then resuming how he was flying.

He thought he was doing fine, until another squadron of chariots came down one of the side streets and joined the one already pursuing him,. His suit shuddered as it absorbed blasts. As he worked at evading, JARVIS put a message on his visor. "Sir, Colonel Rhodes is calling."

Tony swerved left to down another blast. "Tell him to call back later. I'm busy."

He swiveled around and fired off another shot, hitting a chariot and causing it to crash into the one behind it.

"Sir, he says its important."

Tony dipped low and did a loop, then hopped onto the back of a chariot and threw both the occupants off then flew away, letting the chariot crash into the side of a building.

"Have him leave a message," replied Tony.

A few missiles flew out of the launchers on Tony's shoulders and turned back, slamming into the lead chariots. The others had to move to dodge them, and tony pulled ahead.

"Sir, he says to take the next street on the left."

"What," asked Tony, confused at how Rhodes could be telling him to go down a street when he was halfway around the world, but since Tony didn't really have a plan anyway, he did it. What he saw almost made him stop short, but he kept going, if only to keep from colliding with the chariots in close pursuit.

The chariots coming around the corner ran into a hail of bullets, causing most of them to explode or crash. The ones that didn't were quickly shot down by repulsor blasts. With nothing to worry about for a second, Tony stopped and nodded to Colonel Rhodes, flying above the street in his fully equipped War Machine armor, his grey suit ready for combat.

"Rhodes."

"Tony."

"I thought you were in Afghanistan."

"I got hit in a Taliban ambush with multiple RPG's. Obviously I survived, but the suit got roughed up a bit. They pulled me back to the States for repairs and some upgrades. When media coverage of the invasion started, I told the tech guys to get their butts in gear and get the suit operational again yesterday. Once they did I came as fast as I could."

Rhodes flew down and cleared a couple Chitauri off of Captain America's back with a couple bursts from his wrist machine guns, then saluted the soldier. "Captain Rogers. Colonel Rhodes, reporting for duty."

Captain America returned the salute. "Colonel Rhodes, good to have you."

Rhodes looked at the devastation around him. "Where do you need me Captain?"

"Troubleshooter. Something gets past us, you kill it."

"Yes sir," replied Rhodes before activating his repulsors and flying off into the smoke filled New York City sky.

As Rhodes flew through the sky, he got a call on the comm. "Colonel Rhodes, this is Agent Barton. A squad made it past Thor. Can you intercept them?"

Rhodes brought up the radar sweep and located the targets Barton was referring to. "Moving to intercept," he replied. Tracking the targets on his white colored HUD, he threw the War Machine armor into a dive and headed after the chariots.

Lining up behind them, he tracked the lead chariot and then opened up with his minigun. Lacking decent armor in the back, the chariots were shot down one by one, their pilots either dead, or their engines destroyed. That accomplished, War Machine flew down another street in pursuit of more chariots.

Going down another street, he got a call from Tony. "Hey Rhodes. I've got another one of those transports. Want to help me take it out?"

"Roger that Tony," replied Rhodes, and he linked up with Tony who was shooting ineffectively at one of the large transports.

"Hey Rhodes. I don't suppose the Army ever got the Ex-Wife to work," asked Tony, referring to the wrist launched bunker buster that Hammertech had provided for the suit. A bunker buster that didn't work the first time it had been used against Venkov.

Rhodes stopped next to Tony. "No. But I did get this." Rhodes raised his arm and aimed it at the transport as he engaged the arms internal machinery. He held his arm as a device that had been hidden inside snapped down, the weapon pointed towards the transport. He activated it, and felt power from the suit flow to it as an orange glow built up in the barrel. Once it reached a critical level, he released it, and a blast of intense orange energy lashed out, slamming into the transport and tearing a large hole in it. The creature roared in pain as it slammed into the ground.

Tony watched the entire spectacle., and shot the hole Rhodes had made with some micro missiles to ensure the creature was dead before asking, "Rhodes, where did you get one of S.H.I.E.L.D's Phase Two weapons?

Rhodes retracted the gun into his arm with a snap. "S.H.I.E.L.D. I was going to be part of Phase Two, seeing how effective the prototypes were in a combat situation. The suit would be able to monitor power output and other stuff."

"Funny. I don't remember seeing you around the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier."

"They have other facilities than the Helicarrier Tony."

Tony nodded in understanding. "Is that gun a one-off?"

"It isn't, but it drains power like a nobodies business. So I'm trying to save it for when I need it."

"That makes sense. Want me to look at that when this is over?"

"Maybe. We'll see.

Captain America interjected via radio. "Colonel, Tony. Can you two get back to business? Thanks."

Tony and Rhodes looked at each other, remembering that the invasion of New York City and the world was still going on around them. "Roger that Captain," replied Tony. The two of them flew off in different directions as chariots and transports continued pouring from the portal above Stark Tower.

As Rhodes flew, he saw some police officers under fire from Chitauri soldiers. They had taken cover behind a squad car, but they would soon be overwhelmed with only pistols to fight. One of them was already injured. Rhodes knew he had to intervene.

He slammed down in the middle of the advancing Chitauri and before they could react he cut loose with his wrist machine guns and his minigun. The Chitauri recovered rapidly, and returned fire with their weapons, but with the elements of surprise and the amount of firepower he was throwing around, Rhodes gunned them down in short order.

That taken care of, he turned around and walked up to the stunned policemen. He saluted them, and then rocketed back into the sky, leaving them to stare at the contrails of their savior.

He kept up the fight, going from one fire to another and putting it out with bursts of lead. But despite every crisis he helped resolve, three more popped up. The invasion just kept continuing, despite the best efforts of the Avengers. Something had to give soon.

As Rhodes flew, a general call came over the frequency. "Sir, the aliens have some civilians rounded up in a bank."

Captain America responded. "I'm on it."

Rhodes checked where the alert was on his city map and added in, "I'll be right there Captain. Wait for me."

"That's a negative Rhodes. We don't have time," replied Captain as he moved to the bank.

Rhodes gunned his repulsors, and watched as Captain America's icon entered the bank. He kept flying though, and made it to the bank just in time to see the Captain go flying out the window because of an explosion and smash into a car.

"Captain," yelled Rhodes as he landed near Captain America and ran over. He was glad to see that Captain Rogers was alive. Apparently the super soldier serum had kept him from being overly hurt. Really incredible, since the explosion had torn the hood off of Rogers's uniform. He helped Rogers to his feet, noticing the daze the man looked like he was in.

Rhodes flagged over a medic. "Hey, he needs help," he said, before rocketing off into the sky as a large amount of chariots flew overhead. He fired with his minigun, but his face grimaced as it clicked empty, a "No ammunition" sign flashing on his HUD.

"Minigun is bingo on ammo. Detaching," said Rhodes to no one in particular before activating the explosive bolts on his left shoulder that attached the minigun to his arm. The bolts pinged in small explosions, and the minigun flew off and clattered to the street, adding to the detritus of war there. Rhodes felt his shoulder rise slightly due to the lessened weight there.

As he turned a corner, he saw Tony fly through a transport with his wind flaps extended to take it out. The transport exploded as Tony ripped through its insides and emerged from its back, flipping over and over and bouncing off a car and into the ground, where he was quickly set upon by Chitauri soldiers.

Rhodes vectored in and slammed down next to tony, then cut loose with his wrist machine guns, gunning down the closest Chitauri and forcing the others to take cover, giving Tony some time to get back on his feet.

"Damn it Tony, call me before you pull a stunt like that," said Rhodes.

Before Tony could respond, Director Fury cut into the channel. "Avengers, we have a situation. Right now there is a nuclear missile en route to the destroy the island of Manhattan. Stop it."

Tony sighed. "JARVIS, give me everything you got into thrusters."

Before he could rocket off, Rhodes put his hand on Tony's right shoulder. "Tony, you don't have to do this."

Tony looked back. "Yes I do. Your suit doesn't have the speed to catch up to that missile."

Rhodes look sadly at his friend. "Alright."

Tony nodded then shot up into the air and zoomed towards the incoming missile. Rhodes decided that if he couldn't catch up he could at least clear the road, and he took off as well, ready to shook down every chariot that got in their path. Rhodes started shooting with his wrist machine guns, tracking Tony's HUD icon as it linked up with the missile tracking in.

As Tony came in and Rhodes cleared the way, Agent Romanov revealed something important. "Guys, I can shut down the portal."

"Wait," objected Tony. "I've got a nuclear missile that's about to destroy the city, and I know just where to put it." He skirted the edge of a skyscraper and roared towards the portal.

Rhodes watched as Tony, his friend, flew into the portal above Stark Tower. He knew he was making a brave sacrifice, and that for once Tony was willing to do what needed to be done for others, to make the big call, like he or Captain Rogers would have. As he hovered in the sky, he saluted.

Suddenly, fire blossomed in the depths of the portal as the missile detonated, obliterating the Chitauri fleet still inside in a massive fireball. Captain America waited as long as he could, then ordered Romanov to close the portal.

As the portal blinked shut on the expanding nuclear fireball, Rhodes was happy to see Tony fall through the sky above Stark Tower. "Ah yeah Tony, that's how you do it," He yelled in elation. His elation quickly turned serious as Thor observed. "He isn't slowing down."

"Shit," muttered Rhodes before engaging his thrusters and taking off towards Tony. Before he could reach him though, the Hulk slammed into Tony and catapulted hm into a wall, absorbing most of the impact. Hitting the ground, Tony fell of the Hulk and lay limp on the ground as Hulk ripped off his face mask. Rhodes landed next to him as the other Avengers arrived. Captain America knelt down and held Tony's limp hand as they mourned their fallen companion.

Hulk obviously thought differently from the rest of them and roared, startling Tony into awakeness. He gasped out breathes as the Avengers circled around him smiled.

"Tony, you did it man. That was crazy, but you did it," commented Rhodes.

"You know, nearly dying has made me appreciate some things," replied Tony. "There's a schwarma joint around the corner. I don't know what it is but I want to try it."

Captain America looked at the other Avengers. "Well, once we finish this."

* * *

Tony groaned as he was pulled up. "Right. Finish this, then schwarma."

Loki groaned as he pulled himself across the stone floor of the partially destroyed Stark Tower, where he had been since the Hulk had slammed him around. That had hurt. A lot. He needed to get away before the Avengers returned to take him into custody.

Turning his head around though, his hopes fell as he saw the Avengers glaring at him, with an additional member he hadn't seen before, a man in a metallic silver suit.

He sighed, and knew he had lost. "If it's all the same to you, I'd really like that drink now."

**End**


End file.
